Longleat Safari & Adventure Park Longleat Safari Park 2024

Very sad news just in

Thorn
2001-2024

It is with huge sadness we announce the death of Thorn, our male Rothschild giraffe.

Thorn has fathered 29 calves and has had five grandchildren during his time as the herd’s dominant bull. In recent years he has been enjoying his well-earned retirement. Born in Edinburgh, he had called Longleat in Wiltshire home since 2012.

Thorn was more than 16ft tall, weighed more than 1.3 tonnes and reached the exceptional age of 23 years, making him the oldest male Rothschild giraffe in Europe.

Darren Beasley, Head of Animal Operations, said: “Thorn has been experiencing ill-health for some time and supported by veterinary care we have been able to maintain his quality of life using pain relief. However, he has been deteriorating and was struggling, in particular with age related arthritis in his legs, so we had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. We are supporting our keepers who have cared for him for many years and for whom Thorn was very much part of their extended family; decisions such as this one are a tough part of our work but when required it is the right thing to do for our animals in the same way many of us have to make similar decisions for domestic pets.”

In the wild the maximum life expectancy for a male is between 15-20 years. Many of Thorn’s descendants have been sent to zoological collections across Europe as the Safari Park has one of the most successful captive breeding programmes for Rothschild’s giraffes.
 
Rest in peace Thorn, you've earned your after life with how much you've done for Longleat's giraffe.

Having said that, I can remember seeing on Animal Park he was having issues with his hooves couple years ago. A shame that when arthritis takes hold, especially for animals as big as a giraffe
 
Embu said:
Very sad news just in

Thorn
2001-2024

It is with huge sadness we announce the death of Thorn, our male Rothschild giraffe.

Thorn has fathered 29 calves and has had five grandchildren during his time as the herd’s dominant bull. In recent years he has been enjoying his well-earned retirement. Born in Edinburgh, he had called Longleat in Wiltshire home since 2012.

Thorn was more than 16ft tall, weighed more than 1.3 tonnes and reached the exceptional age of 23 years, making him the oldest male Rothschild giraffe in Europe.

Darren Beasley, Head of Animal Operations, said: “Thorn has been experiencing ill-health for some time and supported by veterinary care we have been able to maintain his quality of life using pain relief. However, he has been deteriorating and was struggling, in particular with age related arthritis in his legs, so we had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. We are supporting our keepers who have cared for him for many years and for whom Thorn was very much part of their extended family; decisions such as this one are a tough part of our work but when required it is the right thing to do for our animals in the same way many of us have to make similar decisions for domestic pets.”

In the wild the maximum life expectancy for a male is between 15-20 years. Many of Thorn’s descendants have been sent to zoological collections across Europe as the Safari Park has one of the most successful captive breeding programmes for Rothschild’s giraffes.
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Very sad but expected news, given his age and the decline in his health over recent years. Over the past few years he's been mixed with the rest of the herd very little if at all, especially when the ground was soft. Hell of a lineage and inarguably a life well lived. Hopefully Longleat can acquire a new bull that will lead to similar success.
Cat-Man said:
Very sad to hear about Thorn. There have been a number of high profile losses in the last year or so.
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Yes, between him and the hippos it's been quite a changing of the guard at Longleat. Hopefully things will look up for the rest of the year, as they have started to with the tiger cubs.
 
Embu said:
Very sad news just in

Thorn
2001-2024

It is with huge sadness we announce the death of Thorn, our male Rothschild giraffe.

Thorn has fathered 29 calves and has had five grandchildren during his time as the herd’s dominant bull. In recent years he has been enjoying his well-earned retirement. Born in Edinburgh, he had called Longleat in Wiltshire home since 2012.

Thorn was more than 16ft tall, weighed more than 1.3 tonnes and reached the exceptional age of 23 years, making him the oldest male Rothschild giraffe in Europe.

Darren Beasley, Head of Animal Operations, said: “Thorn has been experiencing ill-health for some time and supported by veterinary care we have been able to maintain his quality of life using pain relief. However, he has been deteriorating and was struggling, in particular with age related arthritis in his legs, so we had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. We are supporting our keepers who have cared for him for many years and for whom Thorn was very much part of their extended family; decisions such as this one are a tough part of our work but when required it is the right thing to do for our animals in the same way many of us have to make similar decisions for domestic pets.”

In the wild the maximum life expectancy for a male is between 15-20 years. Many of Thorn’s descendants have been sent to zoological collections across Europe as the Safari Park has one of the most successful captive breeding programmes for Rothschild’s giraffes.
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What a great age to achieve - the park has much to be proud of. Must be such a sad time for staff and keepers, hopefully they will have some great memories over 23 years.
 
Cat-Man said:
Very sad to hear about Thorn. There have been a number of high profile losses in the last year or so.

Slightly off topic but does anybody know what year the Giraffe's leave Edinburgh?
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The last ones departed Edinburgh in 2004. The remaining pair (father and daughter) were sent to Givskud (in Denmark) and Fota respectively
 
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Nisha said:
The last ones departed Edinburgh in 2004. The remaining pair (father and daughter) were sent to Givskud (in Denmark) and Fota respectively
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Thanks Nisha. Do you happen to know where on site they were kept before they left?
 
Embu said:
Very sad news just in

Thorn
2001-2024

It is with huge sadness we announce the death of Thorn, our male Rothschild giraffe.

Thorn has fathered 29 calves and has had five grandchildren during his time as the herd’s dominant bull. In recent years he has been enjoying his well-earned retirement. Born in Edinburgh, he had called Longleat in Wiltshire home since 2012.

Thorn was more than 16ft tall, weighed more than 1.3 tonnes and reached the exceptional age of 23 years, making him the oldest male Rothschild giraffe in Europe.

Darren Beasley, Head of Animal Operations, said: “Thorn has been experiencing ill-health for some time and supported by veterinary care we have been able to maintain his quality of life using pain relief. However, he has been deteriorating and was struggling, in particular with age related arthritis in his legs, so we had to make the difficult decision to put him to sleep. We are supporting our keepers who have cared for him for many years and for whom Thorn was very much part of their extended family; decisions such as this one are a tough part of our work but when required it is the right thing to do for our animals in the same way many of us have to make similar decisions for domestic pets.”

In the wild the maximum life expectancy for a male is between 15-20 years. Many of Thorn’s descendants have been sent to zoological collections across Europe as the Safari Park has one of the most successful captive breeding programmes for Rothschild’s giraffes.
Click to expand...
A great age for an iconic giraffe and end of an era at Longleat.

I was under the impression in the last few years that the giraffe herd was sort of all in limbo and somewhat reduced in size. Any regular Longleat Zoochat forumster / poster has any information on the current group of Rothschildt's giraffe (M/F and perhaps ages and dates of birth) left at Longleat?
 
Piece of February/March 2024 News Worth Mentioning:

On February 20th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (0.1) grey-crowned crane to the Jersey Zoo in Jersey.

Jersey Zoo

On March 31st, the zoo announced that a red-necked wallaby was born which is on exhibit.

Longleat

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Sand Cat said:
Longleat have announced the birth of Fennec Fox kits which are being hand-reared by keepers. Wonderful news and they are beautiful!

https://www.longleat.co.uk/news/say...exhAYD4QBfOmNgpcKb5LTNso-b0mIBe2U1Fvt00GAJB-p
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On June 10th, the zoo announced that the foxes were sexed as (0.2).

Longleat

On June 12th, the zoo announced that a (1.0) California sea lion was born on June 5th which is now on exhibit.

Longleat
 
Taken from social media

We're so happy to share that Kevin and Janine, our endangered Secretary Birds, have safely welcomed a chick into the world! This is the second chick for these rare birds since they've been at Longleat, the first arriving in 2021.

Sadly, they are classified as Endangered due to significant declines resulting from habitat degradation, hunting, and trade. With the arrival of this chick, we hope that it will help sustain this special species for a long time to come.

If you're visiting us soon, the young family can be seen in the Drive Through Safari near the Rhino paddock.

Didn't realise they'd already had a chick never saw it announced
 
Embu said:
Taken from social media

We're so happy to share that Kevin and Janine, our endangered Secretary Birds, have safely welcomed a chick into the world! This is the second chick for these rare birds since they've been at Longleat, the first arriving in 2021.

Sadly, they are classified as Endangered due to significant declines resulting from habitat degradation, hunting, and trade. With the arrival of this chick, we hope that it will help sustain this special species for a long time to come.

If you're visiting us soon, the young family can be seen in the Drive Through Safari near the Rhino paddock.

Didn't realise they'd already had a chick never saw it announced
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I recall there was an episode of Animal Park that showed them having a chick before. Wasn't a recent thing, like could have been the year before Sonia passed away? But correct me if I'm wrong. But it was the main focus for one episode.
 
Aww that sounds amazing.

Am surprised to hear all four are female though. I thought the ratio between tiger cub genders is usually even between male and females.

Still four females is a massive boost to Amur Tiger conservation.
 
SSLees said:
Aww that sounds amazing.

Am surprised to hear all four are female though. I thought the ratio between tiger cub genders is usually even between male and females.

Still four females is a massive boost to Amur Tiger conservation.
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Yes, if these four young predators reach adulthood and breeding age, that is four more possible families to help this species in its recovery.
 
SSLees said:
Still four females is a massive boost to Amur Tiger conservation.
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I don't want to be a partypooper, but that is hardly the case. yes 4 cubs is a welcome addition to the breeding program, but tiger breeding in European main zoos is very tightly controlled with very clear instructions which pairs can breed and how often. The captive Siberian tiger population is quite sizable and if births wouldn't be controlled there would be a huge surplus...

Additionally it is questionable whether any of these zoo tigers will ever be used for re-introduction efforts to strengthen the wild population, e.g. the real goal of conservation: protecting wild animals & their habitats. The effect of any captive birth on conservation is almost always negligible and in the tiger case not even that important to maintain a healthy captive population.

SSLees said:
To be honest, I'm not even sure 4 amur tiger cubs being born in the UK has even happened until now
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A quick search reveals 4 Siberian tigers were born in Whipsnade in 2018 and those won't be the only ones, 4 cubs is maybe unusual, but not extremely rare.
 
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